Computed slice through a tomographic reconstruction of the pre- and post-synaptic structures of the calycal synapse onto a chick ciliary ganglion neuron. This slice was derived from the 3rd of 6 serial volumes comprising the entire reconstruction.

Manual delineation of the presynaptic calyx and post synaptic spine mat using Xvoxtrace 2.17. Also delineated were the locations of PSD's, vesicles, intracellular components of the post synaptic compartment.

Segmentation file description

Zip file (~38 Mb) containing the Xvoxtrace files (*.trace) containing the manual tracings of the individual components of the calycyl synapse, including ER, PSD, vesicles, base, and spines. Each of these components was traced in a separate file and are contained in different subdirectories. Also included in each subdirectory are the surfaced contours in Synu (*.synu) format, along with the Viewdata file required for visualization with Synuview.

Detailed structural investigation of the structure and distribution of synaptic densities on the spine mats from adult and embryonic ciliary ganglion neurons. Reconstructions were derived from serial electron tomography of in vivo neurons.

Embryonic day (E) 15 chicks or 2-year-old adult chickens were perfusion-fixed with 2% paraformaldehyde plus 2% glutaraldehyde in cacodylate buffer, pH 7.4. Ciliary ganglia were removed, transferred to fresh fixative, and incubated for 3 hr at room temperature. Adult ciliary ganglia were cut into 1 mm3 pieces. After being rinsed several times in 0.1 M sodium cacodylate buffer, pH 7.4, the tissue was treated for 30 min with 2% osmium tetroxide in 0.1 M sodium cacodylate and then counterstained with uranyl acetate. The ganglia were dehydrated in a series of ethanol solutions followed by two rinses in acetone, infiltrated with Durcupan ACM resin (Electron Microscopy Sciences, Fort Washington, PA), allowed to polymerize for 24 hr at 60C, and then sectioned. For serial tomography a continuous series of 10 1-m-thick sections was prepared to encompass a complete spine mat. For traditional thin section analysis 100-nm-thick sections were made.

Imaging product type

Type

Single tilt

Description

singlet_desc

Min range

-60 degrees

Max range

60 degrees

Tilt increment

2 degrees

Notes

The reconstruction shown is actually from a serial tomogram derived from 6 serial sections. As far as can be derived from the published paper, all tilt series were -60 to 60 at 2 degree increments.